Why Cyril Ramaphosa is my Person of the Year

Media organisations often nominate the leader of a country or a politician who has just won an election to be their “Person of the Year”. That person is presumed to have more influence than anyone else in the country and often creates the most news because their words and deeds matter the most.

This is why Adolf Hitler was Time’s Man of the Year in 1938 and Donald Trump is its Person of the Year now and was in 2016.

This would already put President Cyril Ramaphosa in prime position to be Daily Maverick’s 2024 Person of the Year.

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But the main reason for my choice is the manner in which Ramaphosa acted in the hours and days after the elections earlier this year.

He did not just accept the outcome, thus forcing his party to accept it. He also set the tone for what was to come and asked all other parties to do the same.

In one single political action, Ramaphosa forced his party to accept the outcome of the elections, ensured that political violence was firmly off the table, that the police and military would accept the outcome of the elections too, and more importantly, set a vital precedent that all other parties will be held to in the future.

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It should not be forgotten how important this moment was.

If the most important moment in our democratic history was those three days in 1994 when millions of South Africans voted for the first time, the second most important moment might well turn out to be when the ANC fell below 50% for the first time.

By acting as he did, Ramaphosa ensured that any party that governs in the future will also have to either give up or share power when its proportion of the vote falls.

The road not taken

Of course, it can be argued that he had no choice, that our society was too transparent, our democratic institutions too strong and the ANC too weak for anyone to try to hold on to power illegally.

The fact the ANC is still the biggest party in government and that Ramaphosa is still the President made it easy for him to do this.

All of that is true.

However, he could still have given up some power and damaged our democracy at the same time.

For example, on Valentine's Day 2018, Jacob Zuma resigned from the presidency after realising that the forces of democracy were too strongly opposed to him. He chose to resign and damage our democracy at the same time. His speech that night was awful to watch then and is awful to read now.

It was full of lies and nonsense. It was all about him.

Contrast that with Ramaphosa’s words on the night that he accepted the 2024 election results:

“As the leaders of political parties, as all those who occupy positions of responsibility in society, we have heard the voices of our people and we must respect their wishes.

“And now, we are all called upon to recognise that the results of the election reflect the will of the people.

“What this election has made plain is that the people of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to meet their needs.”

Perhaps the most important part of this is that Ramaphosa was always going to accept the outcome of the election.

It was apparent on that night in December 2017 when he was first elected leader of the ANC that he would do this.

The glue in the coalition

There are other reasons Ramaphosa is my nomination.

The first is that despite the fact he led the ANC to its lowest share of the vote ever, he still emerged as critical of the government. Strangely, he came out of it stronger than he was before.

The formation of the coalition and the fact the DA is prepared to work with him and not some other leaders in the ANC shows how critical he is to our politics.

That there is so much speculation about what will happen when he is no longer the leader of the ANC and President of South Africa is also proof of that.

Read more: In a polarised world of global 2024 turmoil, South Africa’s GNU political miracle was a doozy

Ramaphosa has made himself absolutely critical to our politics. If Gwede Mantashe was once the central fulcrum around which the ANC revolved, Ramaphosa now plays that role.

Of course, this is not healthy; no nation’s politics should revolve around one person.

But the fact he has been able to do this is still a testament both to his political skills and the importance of his role.

However, there are still reasons to be critical of Ramaphosa.

He is clearly not telling the truth about Phala Phala, he has appointed people implicated in State Capture to his government, he is not acting against wrongdoing despite claiming that he will and he is not moving quickly enough to resolve our problems.

But, his actions this year are likely to protect our democracy for many years to come — and that cannot be ignored. DM